Sound — 8
I play a wide variety of rock/metal, including Metalica and Nirvana. It suits the former more and is made for heavy shredding. The pickups give a really meaty loud sound and lack any annoying feedback. I am using an old Marshall 50w amp which sounds great with this guitar. A good quality, although rather heavy sound which I would not hesitate to gig.

Overall Impression — 10
Have only been playing about a year and a half. My other guitar is a Fender Strat, which I have to say is still my favourite, which is expected anyway as they are kind of addictive like that! I love the look and sound of this guitar and the fact that not many people have one as there is only one dealer in the entire country. It's also nice to own something with such a prestigeous name and history. I summary, this is well underpiced and I will probaly keep it forever (if only to glare at its beauty).

Reliability & Durability — 10
Easily suitable for live gigs, as backed up by Ultimate Guitar magazine. Feels like it is built to last and knowning Hamer, probably will. Does not de tune itself easily like others in its price range.

Action, Fit & Finish — 10
Came ready set up and tuned and I have not had to make any adjustments; certainly don't have to tune it every five minutes. Finish is excellent which is a characteristic of Hamer anyway. An excellent quality guitar which you would expect to pay 300 - 500 for. Only fault is that there is very minor movement where the neck joins the body, but does not affect play.

Features — 8
A new model made available to us poor axemen, previously of a manufacturer well out of our price range. A solid, medium weight guitar with rosewood fretboard with jumbo style frets for precise and speedy shredding. I think the body is a good quality hardwood, however the finish is so good, I cannot tell. A rock style guitar which is quite thin and pleasant feel when playing. Tune-o-matic bridge, with twin humbuckers, two pickup volumes, basic tone control and three way selector Switch. Hamer`s own pickups so are dsetined to be good. Machine heads are non locking and appear to be plastic, which is my only critisism.